Royal High School FP team 1871-72 (from the club centenary history, published in 1968)

by Andy Mitchell

Look closely at the team photograph of the Royal High School Former Pupils team from 1871: it may come as something of a surprise that one of the players is black. Standing between two well-known Scotland internationalists, Angus Buchanan and Alexander Petrie, he is identified in the caption as JG Robertson. So, who was he? Can he claim to be the world's first black rugby player? Finding out about Robertson took some detailed research to identify him and unravel his fascinating story. It turns out he was a prominent rugby player on both sides of the border who would surely have faced significant social barriers because of his colour, yet appears to have been accepted and integrated.

Robertson in a slightly later Royal High School team photo. The team wore dark blue and red hooped jerseys.

According to the club website, between 1871 and 1875 Robertson played a total of 46 games for Royal High School FP, one of the founders of the Scottish Rugby Union. He appears in two more team photos, and also made four appearances for the Edinburgh representative team against Glasgow. Other than that, he is barely mentioned in sports histories. There was no JG Robertson in the 1871 or 1881 census in Edinburgh, and I could find nobody of that name in the Royal High School archives. The answer is that he was the son of Dr Daniel Robertson, a Perthshire-born surgeon who had gone to Gambia in 1834 after graduating from Edinburgh University, and rose to become colonial secretary. Daniel Robertson devoted his entire working life to Gambia and spent over 30 years there before retiring in the mid-1860s. There is no record of him marrying, and the assumption must be that he had a relationship with a Gambian woman which produced two sons: James George Robertson was born about 1854 in Bathurst, Gambia, and his younger brother John three years later. James was sent to Scotland for his education, initially boarding in Crieff (1861 census) before going to live in St Andrews, where his father and younger brother joined him. James attended Madras College from 1866-70, did well educationally and matriculated at St Andrews University in 1870, but left after his first year. In the autumn of 1871 he went to Edinburgh University to study medicine and throughout his five years in the capital he played rugby for Royal High School FPs. It would have been natural for him to join the University's thriving sports teams, yet he chose not to. The obvious question is 'Why?' as the major unknown factor in this story is the lack of an obvious connection between him and the school. One can speculate that he may have gone to the Royal High as a boy, or his father had a connection, but I have not yet found any proof.

James G Robertson stands between two Scotland internationalists, Angus Buchanan and Alexander Petrie

A talented forward with the knack of scoring key tries, Robertson found acceptance within the Edinburgh rugby-playing community, as four times he was selected to play against Glasgow. The first time was on 6 December 1873, then again the following month, and in February and December 1875. Although these matches were effectively international trials, he was never mentioned as a possible internationalist.

JG Robertson graduated from Edinburgh University in 1876 with the joint degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Master in Surgery

In 1876 Robertson graduated from Edinburgh University in medicine and surgery, in the same ceremony as Scotland rugby legend RW 'Bulldog' Irvine. He found his first job in County Durham where he was appointed resident medical officer at Gateshead Dispensary. It was not the end of his rugby days by any means and over the next few years he played regularly. He first appeared for Northumberland (a club, not the county) early in 1878, where he would have found a familiar face in the team: PB (Patrick Bruce) Junor, a Glasgow Academical who had played for Royal High School FP (also without a past pupil connection) before coming to Durham in 1874. Dr Robertson went on to captain the North Durham club, which was based in Gateshead, from 1879-82 and may have played for Darlington after that, although records are not clear. He married local girl Emily Joel in Newcastle in 1879, and they had three sons and a daughter. The 1891 census shows the family living in Gateshead, joined by James’s father. However, Daniel died in 1892 and this may have been the catalyst for the family to move on, as in 1894 James Robertson purchased a medical practice in Ashwell, Hertfordshire. He became a prominent figure in local life, not only as the town's doctor but also as president of Ashwell tennis club and a committee member for the cricket club. However, his life ended unexpectedly in February 1900. He had been doing his usual rounds but when he came home he collapsed and died in front of his wife. The funeral three days later attracted over 300 mourners and he was buried in St Mary's Churchyard. He was only 46, and left almost £10,000 in his will. JG Robertson's story is important as he is the first known black footballer, of any code, yet I have not found a single reference to Robertson's colour in contemporary accounts.

Alfred Clunies-Ross, Scotland rugby cap 1871

Andrew Watson, Scotland football cap 1881-82

His story has strong echoes with two other non-white Scottish players of that era. Alfred Clunies-Ross, who was half Malay, played in the first Scotland rugby team in 1871; he was also educated at Madras College, studied medicine at Edinburgh University but played for a club side (Wanderers) and then went to London where he played for Wasps. A decade later, the Scotland football team in 1881 was captained by Andrew Watson, born in Guyana to a Scottish father and local woman, then educated in Britain; he played for Parkgrove and Queen's Park, then went to London where he played for Swifts, Corinthians and Bootle. The common thread for all three is that their colour was barely mentioned (if at all) in newspaper reports, and there is virtually nothing to indicate that they suffered discrimination due to their colour. This raises the question as to whether their social class allowed them to rise above racial discrimination.​ It also make me wonder why attitudes then changed, making it harder for non-white players to participate in high level sport: from Arthur Wharton onwards, their colour was regularly highlighted and discrimination in sport became the norm.​

In the course of my research I have accumulated a fair bit of additional detail about JG Robertson and his family. If you would like more information, or may be one of his descendants, please get in touch via the form on the Contact page.